Bettors' good luck charm - it's Elvis

December 16, 2007|By Tom Jicha Staff Writer

MIAMI GARDENS — Elvis was the king at Calder on Saturday. There's an old saw around race tracks that the game is called horse racing, not jockey racing, because it's the animal that matters most. This might be true, but smart rides by Elvis Trujillo proved decisive Saturday in three of the four Grand Slam stakes.

Those who picked up on the trend were richly rewarded when Trujillo, who won four races overall, worked out a ground-saving trip to spring the upset of the day aboard 67-1 Presious Passion in the Grade II William L. McKnight Handicap.

Trujillo broke Presious Passion on top in the mile and a half turf marathon but took back when Kiss the Kid became intent on grabbing the lead. Trujillo sat third on the hedge as 189-1 Bob's Proud Moment took up the chase to the top of the stretch. That's when Trujillo eased Presious Passion around the two leaders and opened enough of a lead to hold off 3-2 favorite Stream of Gold.

The rider and trainer Mary Hartmann were not as surprised as those who let Presious Passion get away at such generous odds. "The trainer told me his last two races were better than they looked on paper," Trujillo said, "so ride him with confidence and just try to get a good trip. She was right, and it worked."

Earlier, Trujillo took the day's pair of Grade III handicaps, the Kenny Noe Jr. and Fred W. Hooper. He worked out a dream trip aboard 11-10 favorite Paradise Dancer in the Noe, allowing Finallymadeit and Rexson's Rose to battle head and head for the lead while Paradise Dancer bided his time in third. The race appeared over in mid-stretch when Paradise Dancer moved easily alongside Finallymadeit, who had put away Rexson's Rose. However, Finallymadeit, whose only loss in his past five races was to Paradise Dancer, dug in and fought to the wire, falling a neck short.

"That horse came back at us, and all of a sudden, for just a second, I thought we were beat," Trujillo said. "But my horse was just as game and got the job done."

The Hooper wasn't as difficult. While four horses sprinted into the first turn of the mile and an eighth race, Trujillo eased Electrify, the 5-2 favorite, over toward the fence, where he sat down the backstretch. As the leaders started to tire going to the far turn, Electrify made his move. By the top of the stretch, he had a clear lead, allowing Trujillo to ride him out to a 2 3/4-length win over late-running Summer Book, with Imawildandcrazyguy another half-length back in third.

A heady hedge-skimming trip also was the key to victory in the Grade II La Prevoyante for female turfers. Redaspen, under Eddie Castro, and favored Dalvina, sat patiently on the rail in mid-pack. When the field hit the stretch, Cornelio Velasquez aboard Dalvina came out going for a hole that quickly closed while Castro held his ground, found running room and got up over Green Girl, who held off re-rallying Dalvina for second money.

Coincidentally, the first three finishers in both Grade II races came from barns that summer in the North. But both Presious Passion and Redaspen had races over the Calder track, and their closest competitors did not.